For the visually impaired, smartphone apps can help them hail a ride, link to real-time maps and get to the nearest convenience stores. But avoiding a tree branch obstructing a sidewalk after a storm or walking through a busy, rush-hour crowd, not to mention finding an office in an unfamiliar building or locating the closest restaurant in a new neighborhood. There is no app for that.

Fernando Albertorio is legally blind, which can make it tricky to navigate busy sidewalks without bumping into things. He’s got a sort of superpower to help him, though: he can sense objects—people, doorways, trash cans, lamp posts—well before he touches them.

New technologies could play a vital part in improving how the visually impaired navigate their day-to-day lives. Ideas like connected walking canes and high-tech glasses are gathering some real momentum, as are smart bands like the Sunu launching this month.

Beginning this weekend, some of the world’s finest athletes will descend upon Boston to take part in the city’s famous road racing festivities. Among them will be entrepreneur Fernando Albertorio, who by the way, is legally blind. But that won’t stop him from participating in one of the races — thanks to a new device from his company Sunu, Inc., he will be able to run just like anyone else.

Jeff and Pete offer another follow up interview with guests they previously interviewed with today’s visit with Marco trujillo, a co-founder of the Sunu Band.
the Sunu Band is a smart bracelet that serves many purposes: it offers sonar-based navigation to detect obstacles up to 15 feet away; it possesses the Sunu tag, a tile-like locator disk to help find your items, and a haptic watch to discretely tell the time.

Navigating city streets, public transportation, and unfamiliar buildings can be challenging for the blind and visually-impaired.
“On trash day, you may run into trash cans that aren’t ordinarily there. You may hit tree branches or signposts,” says Fernando Albortorio, co-founder and CEO of Sunu. Not to mention standing in front of an elevator wondering if the doors have opened yet. Albortorio is legally blind, but he doesn’t like to stand out by using a cane.
His Boston startup just launched an online funding campaign for a sonar system built into a wristband that can vibrate to let the wearer know about obstacles ahead. He calls it “FitBit for the blind.”

As someone who is legally blind, Fernando Albertorio is the perfect spokesman for Sunu, a Boston startup that is launching a crowdfunding campaign today for its sonar-powered smart wristband that helps blind and visually impaired people improve their mobility.

No one likes waiting in line at the bank, least of all Perkins teacher Kate Katulak. Because she is visually impaired, Katulak sometimes has trouble keeping tabs on the person in front of her, which can lead to some awkward moments.

On Wednesday night, MassChallenge, the world’s largest startup accelerator, awarded $1.75 million in funding to 21 companies.
The festivities at this year’s MassChallenge Awards, the fifth such ceremony, included a group of drummers marching through the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, talks from Google board chairman Eric Schmidt and Uber founder and chief executive Travis Kalanick, and a special dedication to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.

CSUN is always an exciting time for the Access Technology Team. We get to explore all the new and interesting products that have come out, or are on their way to market, and this year was no exception. We didn’t write about this product before now because its creator is still in the process of bringing it to market, but it’s a nifty little tool, and worth some exploration.
First, a brief caveat, this is a “first impressions” blog post, not a full-fledged review. I’ve not spent more than a few minutes with the device itself yet, though I have every intention of doing so when given the chance in the future. So with that… on to the review—